Beauty spot: Garcia Tamjidi crafts Kendo’s San Francisco offices

When Kendo, an LVMH beauty brand incubator based in San Francisco, needed to majorly expand into a new space, the company turned to local firm Garcia Tamjidi Architecture Design, known for its ethereally modernist work on projects as varied as the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, residential jewel boxes dotted across the bay area and multiple tech offices for both startups and established firms. The people of Kendo, which is currently focused on six pillar companies – Marc Jacobs Beauty, Kat Von D Beauty, Ole Henriksen, Bite Beauty, Formula X and Fenty Beauty by Rihanna – hadn’t ever worked in a space dedicated to and designed explicitly for them. That’s where Garcia Tamjidi came in.
'They’re not retail, but we imported that retail look to energise the internal team,' says Farid Tamjidi. That retail look is centred on a massive, shiny black centrepiece of a long glowing table that appears in the reception area and is repeated in the cafe area directly opposite (a hallmark of the project is long views and repeated motifs). Before moving into their own full-floor office space, Kendo product managers were squeezed together, displaying products wherever they could – on conference tables, in spare hallways, on desks. Now, with the combination of this endlessly long table and the spotlit illumination that elevates products like the Kat Von D Beauty lipstick tubes and the Marc Jacobs Beauty limited edition nail lacquer, it feels like there’s something to really look at.
The architects worked on creating an office environment with an invigorating 'retail look'
'We also brought in graphics that reconfirm their cultural identity,' says Michael Garcia. Those graphic, massive print-outs glued to the wall (so they’re changeable along with the trends) help to give a sense of narrative momentum to the otherwise colour-neutral – black, beige, and white dominate – open office desking. Further pops are provided by bright flashes of coloured furniture in the lounge areas and small meeting spaces. 'You’re looking at patterns of windows and colours of glass on all four sides,' Tamjidi says of the views of downtown San Francisco that are visible from the clear floor-length spans. 'A lot of it was hard architecture. Silver, smoke grey glass panelling, a very colour-neutral field of view. We thought it’d be a good juxtaposition to have a pop of colour in the foreground.'
That connection of inside and outside, and bright colours and soft neutrals, is perfect for a company devoted to incubating beauty brands that deal with, essentially, exactly all of that.
Large graphics and carefully selected furniture provide vivid pops of colour for the interiors
A shiny black centrepiece in the form of a long glowing table appears in the reception area and is repeated in the cafe area directly opposite
These bright colours create a welcome contrast to the more neutrally-hued hard architecture details
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Garcia Tamjidi website
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
Rediscover a classic midcentury hotel in Sydney
Fender Katsalidis leads a major renovation of the landmark Sofitel Sydney Wentworth hotel, pairing 1960s modernism with an elevated, Australian-minded reset
-
Haute Couture Week A/W 2025: what to expect
Five moments to look out for at Haute Couture Week A/W 2025 in Paris (starting Monday 7 July), from Glenn Martens’ debut for Maison Margiela to Demna’s Balenciaga swansong. Plus, ‘new beginnings’ from JW Anderson
-
Inside Frank Lloyd Wright’s Laurent House – a project built with accessibility at its heart
The dwelling, which you can visit in Illinois, is a classic example of Wright’s Usonian architecture, and was also built for a client with a disability long before accessibility was widely considered
-
Inside Frank Lloyd Wright’s Laurent House – a project built with accessibility at its heart
The dwelling, which you can visit in Illinois, is a classic example of Wright’s Usonian architecture, and was also built for a client with a disability long before accessibility was widely considered
-
Tour this fire-resilient minimalist weekend retreat in California
A minimalist weekend retreat was designed as a counterpoint to a San Francisco pied-à-terre; Edmonds + Lee Architects’ Amnesia House in Napa Valley is a place for making memories
-
A New Zealand house on a rugged beach exemplifies architect Tom Kundig's approach in rich, yet understated luxury
This coastal home, featured in 'Tom Kundig: Complete Houses', a new book launch in the autumn by Monacelli Press, is a perfect example of its author's approach to understated luxury. We spoke to Tom Kundig, the architect behind it
-
Tour architect Paul Schweikher’s house, a Chicago midcentury masterpiece
Now hidden in the Chicago suburbs, architect Paul Schweikher's former home and studio is an understated midcentury masterpiece; we explore it, revisiting a story from the Wallpaper* archives, first published in April 2009
-
The world of Bart Prince, where architecture is born from the inside out
For the Albuquerque architect Bart Prince, function trumps form, and all building starts from the inside out; we revisit a profile from the Wallpaper* archive, first published in April 2009
-
Is embracing nature the key to a more fire-resilient Los Angeles? These landscape architects think so
For some, an executive order issued by California governor Gavin Newsom does little to address the complexities of living within an urban-wildland interface
-
Hop on this Fire Island Pines tour, marking Pride Month and the start of the summer
A Fire Island Pines tour through the work of architecture studio BOND is hosted by The American Institute of Architects New York in celebration of Pride Month; join the fun
-
A Laurel Canyon house shows off its midcentury architecture bones
We step inside a refreshed modernist Laurel Canyon house, the family home of Annie Ritz and Daniel Rabin of And And And Studio